(READING, PA) - Jose Gomez drove in two of the three Fightins runs on Saturday night, but the Thunder rolled past the Fightin Phils, 8-3 at FirstEnergy Stadium.Chris Gittens put the Thunder up early, lifting a two-strike pitch the opposite way off Mauricio Llovera (3-4) for his 15th home run
(READING, PA) - Jose Gomez drove in two of the three Fightins runs on Saturday night, but the Thunder rolled past the Fightin Phils, 8-3 at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Chris Gittens put the Thunder up early, lifting a two-strike pitch the opposite way off Mauricio Llovera (3-4) for his 15th home run of the season, bumping Trenton up 1-0.
Gittens extended that lead in the fourth. After Ben Ruta opened the inning with a double to right-center field, Gittens pulled a two-run home run to left for his second of the night to make it 3-0 Trenton. Kellin Deglan kept it going with a double to right, and with one out Rashad Crawford brought in the Thunder's fourth run of the night with a bloop single to center.
Aaron Brown relieved Llovera in the fifth, and the Thunder (10-13) (48-40) placed runners at the corners with back-to-back one-out singles from Kyle Holder and Ben Ruta. After Brown struck out Gittens, Deglan floated a single into left to score Holder and push the lead to 5-0.
Reading (15-9) (54-37) snapped a 14-inning scoreless streak with a run off Brian Keller in the fifth.
Luke Williams lined a one-out double over the leap of third baseman Brandon Wagner to put a man in scoring position for the first time. Josh Stephen's grounder to second advanced Williams to third, and Gomez came through with an opposite-field knock to right to score Williams and cut the deficit to 5-1.
Trenton pulled away in the eighth, after Wagner was hit by a pitch and Crawford worked a walk against reliever Grant Dyer. Matt Lipka brought them both in with a triple, and crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Keller (1-0) held the Fightins to just a run on four hits through a season-high seven innings of work.
Henri Lartigue greeted reliever Adonis Rosa with a deep drive to right field for his fourth home run of the season to bring it to 8-2 in the eighth. The Fightins rallied for one more in the ninth, when Gomez yanked a double to left to plate Cornelius Randolph and make it 8-3.
The four-game set concludes on Sunday, with first pitch at 5:15 p.m. Seth McGarry takes the hill for Reading against Nick Green for Trenton, and the game will be broadcast on 610 ESPN and the Fightins radio network beginning at 4:45 p.m.
